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Washington CNN —
There is a lot of violent crime in South Africa. There is not a genocide against White farmers there.
Claims of genocide can sometimes be difficult to adjudicate. This claim is easy. The facts show that the genocide President Donald Trump suggests might be happening is not happening – and that crime against White farmers in South Africa represents a tiny fraction of the country’s overall crime.
The most recent South African official data shows that the country had 19,696 murders from April 2024 through December 2024 – and that the victim in just 36 of these murders, about 0.2%, was linked to farms or smaller agricultural holdings.
Further, only seven of the 36 victims were farmers. (South Africa has Black farmers, too; the official data is not broken down by race.) The other 29 victims included farm employees, who tend to be Black.
Data from groups representing South African farmers also shows that farm killings number in the dozens per year, a minuscule percentage of the country’s total.
Under the United Nations definition, genocide requires acts, such as murder and serious bodily or mental harm, “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such.” There is no evidence that South Africa, whose agriculture minister is White, has made or overseen any such effort.
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